Amazingly Vivid Dino Illustrations Reveal a Brutal Prehistoric World

Slide: 1 /of 10.Caption: Caption: One of 14 images appearing as backlit panels (about 4 feet tall) in the Hall of Paleontology at the Houston Museum of Natural Science, this image depicts the probably rare but plausible encounter between the giant shark Carcharocles (jaw diameter estimated at 11 feet) and a medium-sized proboscidean, Platybelodon.Illustrations by Julius Csotonyi

Slide: 2 /of 10.Caption: Caption: A Cretaceous Nigerian scene depicting a young (and speculatively feathered) abelisaurid called Kryptops disturbed from its drinking by the commotion caused by a Suchomimus plucking a young Sarcosuchus from its river habitat.Illustrations by Julius Csotonyi

Slide: 3 /of 10.Caption: Caption: This image endeavors to restore some of the events leading to the creation of a large block of highly fossiliferous sandstone (containing Utahraptor over a range of ontogenetic stages and Hippodraco) from the Cretaceous in what is now Utah. Illustrations by Julius Csotonyi

Slide: 4 /of 10.Caption: Caption: One of two marketing images created for Gondwana Studios’ traveling exhibit, “Permian Monsters: Life Before the Dinosaurs.” This image shows a lone Dimetrodon ready to begin sunning itself on an early Permian morning. Illustrations by Julius Csotonyi

Slide: 5 /of 10.Caption: Caption: On a beach in Laramidia during the Cretaceous, in what is now Utah, a pair of Lythronax argestes moves in to investigate the stranded carcass of a large Squalicoraxshark, which is already being picked at by a pair of enantiornithine birds.Illustrations by Julius Csotonyi

Slide: 6 /of 10.Caption: Caption: One of eleven murals created for Gondwana Studios’ travelling exhibit, “Permian Monsters: Life Before the Dinosaurs”. This image features the bizarre sight of Meganeuropsis carrying Hylonomus, and Eryops leaping after them.Illustrations by Julius Csotonyi

Advertisement

Slide: 7 /of 10.Caption: Caption: This piece -- commissioned to be sold as prints for fund-raising for the building of Canada’s newest paleontological museum, the Phillip J. Currie Dinosaur Museum -- depicts the extremely long-necked plesiosaur, Albertonectes, hunting fish in the Bearpaw Sea.Illustrations by Julius Csotonyi

Slide: 8 /of 10.Caption: Caption: Created for Gondwana Studios’ travelling exhibit, “Permian Monsters,” this image features a group of the synapsid Dicynodon warily eying the early archosaur Archosaurus as it snaps up a breaching Saurichthys, while a Chroniosuchus hangs out in the stream shallows. Illustrations by Julius Csotonyi

Slide: 9 /of 10.Caption: Caption: An illustration of the first published specimen of the troodontid Mei long, a name which in Chinese means “sleeping dragon.” In this reconstruction, I wished to illustrate the concept of cryptic coloration, referring to the color patterns of an animal closely matching those of its surrounding, and which is employed by modern animals to hide from predators or prey.Illustrations by Julius Csotonyi

Slide: 10 /of 10.Caption: Caption: This scene shows the newly described dome-headed dinosaur, Acrotholus, exiting a stand of giant Gunnera leaves and coming across a Neurankylus turtle soaking in a footprint of a hadrosaur that had passed by earlier.Illustrations by Julius Csotonyi

Related Galleries

Slide: 1 /of 10Caption: Caption: One of 14 images appearing as backlit panels (about 4 feet tall) in the Hall of Paleontology at the Houston Museum of Natural Science, this image depicts the probably rare but plausible encounter between the giant shark Carcharocles (jaw diameter estimated at 11 feet) and a medium-sized proboscidean, Platybelodon.Illustrations by Julius Csotonyi

Slide: 2 /of 10Caption: Caption: A Cretaceous Nigerian scene depicting a young (and speculatively feathered) abelisaurid called Kryptops disturbed from its drinking by the commotion caused by a Suchomimus plucking a young Sarcosuchus from its river habitat.Illustrations by Julius Csotonyi

Slide: 3 /of 10Caption: Caption: This image endeavors to restore some of the events leading to the creation of a large block of highly fossiliferous sandstone (containing Utahraptor over a range of ontogenetic stages and Hippodraco) from the Cretaceous in what is now Utah. Illustrations by Julius Csotonyi

Slide: 4 /of 10Caption: Caption: One of two marketing images created for Gondwana Studios’ traveling exhibit, “Permian Monsters: Life Before the Dinosaurs.” This image shows a lone Dimetrodon ready to begin sunning itself on an early Permian morning. Illustrations by Julius Csotonyi

Slide: 5 /of 10Caption: Caption: On a beach in Laramidia during the Cretaceous, in what is now Utah, a pair of Lythronax argestes moves in to investigate the stranded carcass of a large Squalicoraxshark, which is already being picked at by a pair of enantiornithine birds.Illustrations by Julius Csotonyi

Slide: 6 /of 10Caption: Caption: One of eleven murals created for Gondwana Studios’ travelling exhibit, “Permian Monsters: Life Before the Dinosaurs”. This image features the bizarre sight of Meganeuropsis carrying Hylonomus, and Eryops leaping after them.Illustrations by Julius Csotonyi

Slide: 7 /of 10Caption: Caption: This piece -- commissioned to be sold as prints for fund-raising for the building of Canada’s newest paleontological museum, the Phillip J. Currie Dinosaur Museum -- depicts the extremely long-necked plesiosaur, Albertonectes, hunting fish in the Bearpaw Sea.Illustrations by Julius Csotonyi

Slide: 8 /of 10Caption: Caption: Created for Gondwana Studios’ travelling exhibit, “Permian Monsters,” this image features a group of the synapsid Dicynodon warily eying the early archosaur Archosaurus as it snaps up a breaching Saurichthys, while a Chroniosuchus hangs out in the stream shallows. Illustrations by Julius Csotonyi

Slide: 9 /of 10Caption: Caption: An illustration of the first published specimen of the troodontid Mei long, a name which in Chinese means “sleeping dragon.” In this reconstruction, I wished to illustrate the concept of cryptic coloration, referring to the color patterns of an animal closely matching those of its surrounding, and which is employed by modern animals to hide from predators or prey.Illustrations by Julius Csotonyi

Slide: 10 /of 10Caption: Caption: This scene shows the newly described dome-headed dinosaur, Acrotholus, exiting a stand of giant Gunnera leaves and coming across a Neurankylus turtle soaking in a footprint of a hadrosaur that had passed by earlier.Illustrations by Julius Csotonyi

Related Galleries

Over its lifetime, Earth has hosted countless species. But some of those species, like the dinosaurs, have managed to claw their way into a special place in our imaginations. Now, a new book illustrates the dinosaurs — and many of the beasts of millennia ago — in beautiful, spectacular and vicious style.

In one illustration, tiny Utahraptors tear at the flesh of a much larger creature. Another shows a rather unlikely but fanciful encounter between giant megalodon and funny-looking platybelodon. A more serene image depicts a well-camouflaged little dinosaur sleeping beneath a tree in a lush, green forest.

Julius CsotonyiThe Paleoart of Julius Csotonyi, available on May 20, is a collection of artwork by Julius Csotonyi, an award-winning illustrator whose work lives in museums and in science papers. Csotonyi, who holds a PhD in microbiology, works frequently with paleontologists who need help bringing their fossil finds to life. Sometimes, though, he draws whatever comes to mind. According to Csotonyi’s parents, his first illustration, at age 3, was of a dinosaur. “It appears to have been intended to be a rooster,” Csotonyi says in the book.

Here are 10 of our favorite scenes from The Paleoart of Julius Csotonyi, each accompanied by a caption written for WIRED by the author.

Here’s The Thing With Ad Blockers

We get it: Ads aren’t what you’re here for. But ads help us keep the lights on. So, add us to your ad blocker’s whitelist or pay $1 per week for an ad-free version of WIRED. Either way, you are supporting our journalism. We’d really appreciate it.